The present invention relates to a snap closure for the detachable securement of a housing cover on the housing of a manually-guided implement, especially to secure an air filter cover that covers an air filter of an internal combustion engine for driving a tool of the implement.
A housing cover on the housing of a manually-guided implement is opened to provide access to the devices of the implement accommodated in the housing. The housing can be detachably secured with a snap closure. An air filter cover that covers an air filter of an internal combustion engine for driving a tool of the implement can be secured by a snap closure. The snap closure should enable as rapid an access to the air filter as possible for routine maintenance purposes. The snap closure includes a snap hook on one of the components that are to be held together, with the hook being provided on the end of an elastically deflectable leg and being tapered in the manner of a detent. When the cover is placed on the housing, the hook end of the snap hook can engage in an undercut formed on the other of the components that are to be held together. To release the snap closure connection the snap hook is pressed out of the engaged positioned and withdrawn.
With known snap closures, the undercut is formed in the wall of the component, for example by an opening or depression in the housing cover that is to be secured. For releasing the securement, the snap hook is pressed out of the plane of the housing cover; likewise, prior to engagement of the snap hook in the undercut the housing cover presses the legs into the interior of the housing. With such an arrangement, the components of the implement that are accommodated in the housing must be spaced from the wall of the housing by a distance that is greater than the required deflection path of the snap hook. With manually-guided implements, the housing should be as small as possible, as a consequence of which a space available behind the snap hooks for the deflection should also be kept as small as possible, and customarily barely exceeds the required extent of deflection. Especially during release of the snap closure jamming is frequently observed since the snap hook is halted in its deflection movement by the components disposed in the housing and still partly overlaps the undercut and can therefore not be withdrawn. A user of the implement must therefore use both hands to release the snap closure in order on the one hand to press the snap hook down and on the other hand to release and withdraw the housing cover.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve a snap closure of the aforementioned general type in such a way that with as small of an overall size of the housing as possible a straight-forward securement and release of the housing cover is possible.